1/48 ICM Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2

Gallery Article by Bernhard Schenk on Nov 17 2009

 

Construction

I used the ICM kit for my Bf 109 F-2.  This kit has a rather bad reputation among the modelling community.  Honestly, I wouldn't have bought it if it hadn't been a special offer for just 7.90 EUR....

Construction starts with the engine. Yes, this kit includes a complete Daimler-Benz 601 engine - a real asset compared to the other 1/48 scaled "Friedrichs" of the big manufacturers like Hasegawa or Airfix.  I tried to follow the instructions and glued the exhaust pipes to the engine block.  After completing the engine I did some dryfitting tests with the cowling parts. It was awful! I wanted to build the aircraft with closed cowling so I cut off most of the engine details and also the exhausts, the only parts which should be visible later. I glued them to the upper halves of the cowling and tried again. This proved to be much better.

Cockpit construction was straightforward without any problems. I mated the fuselage halves and the cockpit and then the wing. Fit wasn't perfect, but ok. The surface of the rudder, elevators and ailerons is a bit overdone, so I sanded them slightly. Now the fiddly part of the construction came - building the nose. It consists of 5 parts and if you followed the instructions it is very difficult to achieve a good result. I glued the machine guns barrels to the upper cowling parts and built the nose as a whole but without the oil cooler. I mated the nose and the fuselage and finally added the oil cooler part. This worked quite well but it was necessary to check all the time because there were no locating pins at all. The rest of the construction went without any troubles. I just replaced the kit's wheels and the antenna mast with parts with of an Academy 109. The wing tips were slightly rounded which was easy to do as well. Finally I added a new stub on the fin because the kit's one wasn't strong enough to hold the antenna wire made of fine fishing line.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

Painting/Decals

This particular plane is well depicted in "Jagdwaffe Vol.4/Section1: Holding the West", page 44. It represents the Bf 109 F-2 of Siegfried "Siggi" Schnell, Knight's Cross holder and Staffelkapitän of 9./JG2 in May 1942. I used Lifecolor and Vallejo paints and Eagle Cals decals because I didn't trust the ICM decals. But I wasn't that happy with the Eagle Cals' either. They proved to be very thick and settled down only after many many treatments with Micro Sol and a lot of needle pricking.

Conclusion

This kit certainly has some disadvantages, above all the fiddly construction of the nose. Also some parts should be replaced or added: wheels, pitot tube, antenna mast, antenna stub on the fin. The prop appears slightly too short as well, but is still acceptable. Surface details aren't as good as Tamiya or Hasegawa either. But has anyone found the "perfect" kit? I haven't so far......

Despite all this I really liked this kit - not only because I paid not even half the price of the Hasegawa one. It is also more accurate in terms of dimensions and details for an early "Friedrich" than the kit of the Japanese company. The Hasegawa Bf 109 F is more than 2 mm too short in length - which is a major fault to me! Also the more angular shape of the ICM fuselage looks more realistic in my opinion and the kit features the famous stiffening struts on the tail. The shape of the spinner is definitely better. The clear parts are excellent. And there is the possibility to build it with open cowling to present a nicely crafted engine. Overall, construction reminded me of a very good limited run kit - not as easy as Hasegawa or Tamiya but feasible without too much trouble. The flaws of this kit can be easily fixed while the defects of the Hasegawa can't. So, if you want to build an authentic "Friedrich" - get the ICM kit!  

Highly Recommended.

Bernhard Schenk

Photos and text © by Bernhard Schenk